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- Home
- Living Here
- Projects
- 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update
2040 Comprehensive Plan
Burnsville's 2040 Comprehensive Plan (PDF) (20MB)
Appendices (PDF) (72MB)
State law requires that all cities and counties in the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area adopt a Comprehensive Plan. These plans provide a road map for communities looking 20 years into the future. In May 2016, Burnsville began work on a major update of its existing Comprehensive Plan to look at growth and development into the year 2040.
What is a Comprehensive Plan?
Comprehensive Plans identify a community's long-term vision, goals, policies, strategies and options for guiding future changes and investments. In Burnsville, this plan will address future land use, economic development, transportation, city services/facilities, natural resources, housing, neighborhoods and youth initiatives.
What is the Process?
In general, the process involves:
- A full review and evaluation of the current comprehensive plan
- Identification of specific issues that need updating
- In-depth exploration of the City's primary areas of focus
- Community review and input opportunities
- A comprehensive update of the plan
- Plan review and adoption by the Burnsville's Planning Commission and City Council
The City worked with planning consultants Hoisington Koegler Group Inc. to assist with the process. A Review Panel, which consisted of Planning Commissioners and other community members representing residents, businesses, youth, community services and visitors is also involved.
After preliminary approval by the City Council (considered on Nov. 20, 2018), the plan was sent to the Metropolitan Council for review. The 2040 Comprehensive Plan was finally adopted and put into effect by City Council on July, 16, 2019.
Focus Areas
The City focused on the following areas in its 2040 Comprehensive Plan update:
- Minnesota River Quadrant (MRQ) Potential Land Use Changes (Current Interchanges) (PDF)
- Minnesota River Quadrant (MRQ) Potential Land Use Changes (with New Interchanges) (PDF)
- East Cliff Road Aging Industrial Areas Potential Improvements/Amenities (PDF)
- Heart of the City
Heart of the City Potential Redevelopment Plan (PDF) - Burnsville Center Potential Land Use Changes (PDF)
- Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Station Areas
Past Advisory Panel Meetings
Date | Presentation |
July 31, 2017 | Advisory Panel Meeting #10 Presentation (PDF) |
June 19, 2017 | Advisory Panel Meeting #9 Presentation (PDF) |
May 15, 2017: | Advisory Panel Meeting #8 Presentation (PDF) |
April 17, 2017: | Advisory Panel Meeting #7 Presentation (PDF) |
March 20, 2017: | Advisory Panel Meeting #6 Presentation (PDF) |
February 27, 2017: | Advisory Panel Meeting #5 Presentation (PDF) |
January 30, 2017: | Advisory Panel Meeting #4 Presentation (PDF) |
November 7, 2016: | Advisory Panel Meeting #3 Presentation (PDF) |
September 19, 2016: | Advisory Panel Meeting #2 Presentation (PDF) |
July 18, 2016: | Advisory Panel Meeting #1 Presentation (PDF) |
Project Consultants
Consultants working on this project include:
- Hoisington Koegler Group Inc. - Lead firm in charge of planning, design, public involvement, housing, urban design, transit oriented development, GIS and implementation
- Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. - Transportation planning, water, sanitary sewer, stormwater and parks
- Emmons & Oliver Resources, Inc. - Sustainability and natural resources
- Tangible Consulting Services - Market analysis, project economics and development financing needs.
Contact Us
Deb Garross
City Planner
Email Deb Garross
100 Civic Center Parkway
Burnsville, MN 55337
Phone: 952-895-4446
8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday


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Doug Ose on EnvironmentFormer Republican Representative (CA-3) | |
H.R. 2941 Brownfields Redevelopment Enhancement Act.
Republican Main Street Partnership Congresswomen Marge Roukema (NJ), Sue Kelly (NY), and Melissa Hart (PA) as well as Congressman Paul Gillmor (PA) have introduced legislation providing a new source of funding for improving former industrial sites. H.R. 2941 reauthorizes the Brownfields Remediation Grant Program as well as creating a new loan program for brownfields redevelopment. The pilot program encourages cities to tap private loans for civic improvements by using the federal grants as collateral. The bill allows for Community Development Block Grants to be used in industrial site clean up as well.
H.R. 2438/H.R. 2694 Department of Environmental Protection Act.
Republican Main Street Partnership members Sherwood Boehlert (NY) and Steve Horn (CA) each have introduced legislation that would elevate the position of Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to that of cabinet level. Initially, the EPA served as a regulatory agency, but as a result of numerous statutes enacted by Congress, the agency's jurisdiction has swelled. Each bill would redesignate the EPA as the Department of Environmental Protection. RMSP supports the efforts of Congressman Vern Ehlers to include a deputy administrator for science within the department.
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is the political voice of the national environmental movement and the only organization devoted full-time to shaping a pro-environment Congress and White House. We run tough and effective campaigns to defeat anti-environment candidates, and support those leaders who stand up for a clean, healthy future for America. Through our National Environmental Scorecard and Presidential Report Card we hold Congress and the Administration accountable for their actions on the environment. Through regional offices, we build coalitions, promote grassroots power, and train the next generation of environmental leaders. The 2003 National Environmental Scorecard provides objective, factual information about the environmental voting records of all Members of the first session of the 108th Congress. This Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from 20 respected environmental and conservation organizations who selected the key votes on which Members of Congress should be graded. LCV scores votes on the most important issues of the year, including environmental health and safety protections, resource conservation, and spending for environmental programs. Scores are calculated by dividing the number of pro-environment votes by the total number of votes scored. The votes included in this Scorecard presented Members of Congress with a real choice on protecting the environment and help distinguish which legislators are working for environmental protection. Except in rare circumstances, the Scorecard excludes consensus action on the environment and issues on which no recorded votes occurred.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Maccabees
Hi Orlando, how are you feeling about the impending album release?
I'm excited, but not 10-year-old-on-Christmas-morning excited; I'm slightly numb to it I think. Weirdly, I think we're better prepared for this [album release] than we have been in the past. I was nervous all through making this album but the run-up to it has felt less panicked, and with that it's meant that it's felt like it's gone on forever. So, yeah, I'll be glad when it's finally out and there are no more loose ends.
Marks To Prove It took longer to make than your previous records, right?
Yeah. We started off thinking we were going to knock it out in about eight months, but when we got six months in I suddenly realised that we were making something that we weren't going to be happy with. That took the wind out of our sails and we had to rebuild the record.
Is that a consequence of the success of Given To The Wild? Did you feel pressure, or were you impervious to other people's expectations?
Of course you're aware of it, but at the same time I think the reason we've managed to stick together as a band is because we don't want to repeat ourselves. And we haven't, hopefully. We're always trying to figure out how to make something that doesn't repeat the last record, and yet that does something interesting and new for us.
So what was your starting point for Marks To Prove It?
The way that we work, we can't really sit down and say, "Right, what are we doing? Ok, that's the plan." We have to exhaust every possible bloody option – fiddling around and scrapbooking and recording two years of rehearsal room – and then eventually something presents itself.
In an interview with the NME, you described Marks To Prove It as a journey "of day into night and back into day again." At what stage in the process did you realise that? When you were sequencing the album?
When we started recording we realised that everything sounded better at night, and that started helping make our choices in terms of what songs we really wanted to finish. There were a few of those type-things that just gave us that little bit of structure towards the end of the process. And then, yeah you're right, the sequencing definitely involved us trying to follow that kind of framework.
What about the creative process did you approach differently to that of Given To The Wild?
Well, more than anything, you don't want to repeat the mistakes, obviously. But I think we felt like the first eight or nine months of writing that we were doing just sounded too lush. The last record was so lush and layered and grandiose and over the top, and as a result we could never really play it live – which was a shame – so we didn't want to do that again.
But we did think what was successful about [that record] was that it felt like it was of one place; it felt like it carried an atmosphere better than anything we'd done before. So we wanted to create that sense of atmosphere but without using walls of reverb, and 12 guitars layered, and my vocals triple tracked. We wanted to try to be really strict with ourselves and not fall back on those things that we had now started regarding as cheap tricks. Because once you've figured something out it feels slightly tainted, and using it is not fulfilling.
This is the first album that you've recorded in your own studio, right?
We did a bit of salvage work on the last record in this studio, but this is the first time that we've started and finished a record here, yeah.
Can you tell us more about the set-up there, please?
It's just off the Elephant and Castle roundabout. We found it about five years ago and it was advertised as office space but by extraordinary luck it was built to be a studio, so all the sound insulation was built into it. We did some research later on and we found that it had been the Jesus and Mary Chain's studio in the 80s, and probably some other people too, but not for 10 or 15 years. It was totally dilapidated with rat droppings and dead rats, and the only thing that was left was this piano which we then got serviced and fixed up, and it's all over the record; it became a real character on the album. So yeah, that became home.
It was a fantastic luxury but it also meant that it added a lot of time onto things, because you don't have any time constrictions and you can stay there as late as you want. So suddenly – for a band that takes a very long time to decide anything – we now had another very good reason not to make any proper decisions. (Laughs) But we couldn't have made this sort of record without it.
In what sense?
We didn't want it to sound like infinitesimal layered everything, with fake strings and drum machines. We wanted it to sound like a band in a room. And if we couldn't achieve things with just the five of us then we would get someone to come in. So we'd get Polly [Mackey] or Rebekah [Raa] to come in and sing or play the piano; people that could actually play piano, rather than myself or Hugo or Felix that can write on a piano but can't do it justice. So, yeah, it became a bit of a rule for us that if we couldn't achieve it in [the studio], then it needed to be rethought, perhaps with different instruments.
How did Laurie Latham fit into the process?
He came in during the writing process, when we were basically trying to figure out if we had any music that was worth recording, or if we'd just wasted another eight months of writing. I think our confidence was just a bit shot. When it's just the five of you, you lose perspective. Laurie came in and was just very honest about things: if he didn't think it was good he said so, but he would also say, "Have you tried stripping that back to just whatever it was written on and starting again?" So he was crucial in just re-motivating us.
Can we talk about some of the themes on the record, please? On 'River Song' and 'Slow Sun' there's this recurring idea of growing older, but not necessarily getting any wiser.
With 'River Song', I imagined a row between two people. I don't know who they were but I remember thinking that it wasn't aggressive, it was just really sad. It reminded me of friends that I've known who've made mistakes, and I've certainly made mistakes, so yeah. It is very nice to think that you don't repeat your mistakes but, sadly, I think you probably do.
Do you see any other themes connecting the tracks?
I think the last record was me trying to be grand and I think that – with the visual references that I had when I was writing it – I wanted this to be very straightforward and uncomplicated. There's a lyric in the song 'Slow Sun' about "ordinary drawing" and I think that was a big part of it. It can be entirely local and yet themes can elevate it, so there was still potential for sweeping, romantic statements without it being grand.
Could you tell us more about your visual references, please?
I'd read 'Night Walks' by Charles Dickens and that became a big sticking point. Obviously, that's not how London is now at all, but there is still some relevance to it. London isn't a terribly glamorous place, I don't think, but it's got an awful lot going on.
The influence of London extends into the album artwork too – it's a photo of the Elephant and Castle roundabout, right?
Yeah, I think Elephant and Castle became a crucial backdrop to things. Finding that photograph was a real relief because there was this thing that we'd walked past hundreds of times and then as soon as we'd seen it in this one photograph, suddenly it took on a very different relevance. I don't know, [the photograph]'s sort of a mixture of Hollywood and something quite sinister somehow, and yet it's just a roundabout in Elephant and Castle. I felt like it summed up the record.
So what's the plan for the rest of 2015, and beyond?
It's mostly touring, taking the record to as many people as possible. And that's it. Right now, it's very difficult to think beyond the record but I would love to eventually make something that I could put on that would provide the kind of comfort or companionship that my favourite records give me. But I have a feeling that that is part of the point of doing it – that that's impossible.
After 12 years together, what drives you still?
I still love the initial moment where you're trying to write something and suddenly it feels like an original idea. I think I've gotten better at recognising that, because when we were starting out I found it a lot more frustrating. Actually, having said that, I still find that very frustrating now but... You don't get an awful lot of pay-off in the creative process, so you have to savour those little moments where you think you've made something from nothing. And an awful lot of the rest of it is trying not to lose the excitement of that moment.
Juli 2015


text:
I've already copied terabytes of files with rsync
but I forgot to use --archive
to preserve files' special attributes.
I tried executing rsync
again this time with --archive
but it was way slower than what I expected. Is there any easy way to do this faster by just copying metadata recursively?


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Business aviation has become essential to tens of thousands of companies of all types and sizes in the U.S. that are trying to compete in a marketplace that demands speed, flexibility, efficiency and productivity. The vast majority of these companies – 85% – are small and mid-size businesses, many of which are based in the dozens of markets across the country where the airlines have reduced or eliminated service.
A company's decision to utilize business aviation for any mission depends on a variety of factors, including availability of commercial service in the departing or arrival destinations, the number of sites to be visited in a single day, the number of employees traveling, the need to discuss proprietary matters en route, the need to move specialized equipment and a host of other considerations. The following list details some of the primary reasons companies utilize business aviation as a solution to some of their transportation challenges:
• Accessing communities with little or no airline service. Business aviation serves ten times the number of communities (more than 5,000 airports) served by commercial airlines (about 500 airports) This means business aviation can allow companies to locate plants or facilities in small towns or rural communities with little or no commercial airline service. Since nearly 100 communities have lost airline service in the past year, this is important.
• Reaching multiple destinations quickly and efficiently. Companies that need to reach multiple destinations in a single day may elect to use business aviation, because that type of mission could be hard or impossible to complete with other modes of transportation.
• Supporting the travel needs of many types of company employees. An NBAA survey revealed that 72% of passengers aboard business airplanes are non-executiveemployees. Companies often send teams of employees to a given destination because it is the most cost-effective means of transport.
• Moving equipment. When companies need to immediately move sensitive or critical equipment, business aviation is often the best solution.
• Ensuring flexibility. Business people don't always know in advance where or when opportunities will present themselves. In today's business environment, companies need to be nimble enough to move quickly. Business aviation provides flexibility for companies that need to ensure employees can respond to changing demands and circumstances.
• Increasing employee productivity and providing security. Business aviation is a productivity tool – when traveling aboard business aircraft, employees can meet, plan and work en route. Business aviation also allows employees to discuss proprietary information in a secure environment and without fear of eavesdropping, industrial espionage or physical threat
• Keeping in contact. Many aircraft have technologies that allow employees to remain in communication throughout the duration of their flight. This can be critical for companies managing a rapidly changing situation.
• Providing a return to shareholders. Studies have found that businesses which use business aviation as a solution to some of their transportation challenges return more to shareholders than companies in the same industry that do not utilize business aviation.
• Schedule Predictability. Over three percent of all commercial airline flights are cancelled. Nearly one quarter are delayed. Today, because of record load factors on commercial airlines, if your flight is cancelled or a delay causes you to miss your connection, the odds of you getting on the next flight are significantly reduced. When the future of a company and its employees is dependent upon you arriving on time, business aviation is an important too.


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Mark Webber's last F1 start was the 200th time he's seen the red lights go out at a Grand Prix.
Webber took a long time to get to the top of Formula One but now has nine race victories to his name and came close to winning the championship in 2010.
Here's a look back on his career so far in pictures.
2002-2004: Minardi and Jaguar
After finishing runner-up in Formula 3000 in 2001, Webber was signed by fellow Australian Paul Stoddart to race for Minardi in 2002. He scored a dream debut result at home in Melbourne, coming home fifth after a first-lap shunt.
That prompted Jaguar to hire him as a replacement for the departing Eddie Irvine for 2003. But a front-row start at Malaysia was one of few occasions when the green cars showed the potential to challenge the front runners.
2005-2006: Williams
A move to BMW-powered Williams for 2005 promised to be Webber's first shot in a car capable of challenging for race victories. He duly scored his first podium finish in Monaco but the team's form dipped as the year went on and the relationship between chassis builder and engine supplier was severed.
This was a galling blow for Webber, who'd passed up a chance to join Renault. During his Williams tenure Renault wrapped up both constructors' championships and took Fernando Alonso to the drivers' titles.
Meanwhile Webber failed to make it to the podium during 2006, though he was in the running at Monaco until his car let him down.
2007-2009: Red Bull
The writing was on the wall at Williams so Webber opted for a return of sorts to a previous team. Jaguar had been taken over by Red Bull and new team principal Christian Horner had successfully lured Adrian Newey away from McLaren.
Webber was back on the podium at a rain-hit race at the Nurburgring. But while running second in Japan he was taken out by Sebastian Vettel, who was making his sixth start for Toro Rosso.
The two would soon get to know each other much better. Vettel joined Red Bull in 2009 and gave the team its first victory in China, Webber finishing second just three races after breaking his leg in a pre-season cycling crash.
Webber's wait for a maiden Grand Prix triumph finally ended at his 132nd race appearance in that year's German Grand Prix. It was soon followed by a second win in Brazil.
2010: Red Bull
The 2010 season was Webber's most competitive to date, though it ultimately ended in disappointment for him. Back-to-back wins in Spain and Monaco tied him and Vettel at the top of the points standings, but at the next race they controversially collided in Turkey.
Webber added a third win at Silverstone despite having to give up a front wing upgrade to his team mate who was heading him in the points standings going into the race.
Win number four in Hungary came amid more internal rancour. Vettel led early on but received a drive-through penalty after being asked to hold up the field during a safety car period to assist Webber.
Despite clashing with Lewis Hamilton in Singapore, Webber retained the lead of the championship heading into the Japanese Grand Prix. But another cycling accident left him with an injured shoulder, the details of which he kept to himself until after the season.
A crash in the wet Korean Grand Prix was a major blow to his title hopes. He went into the final round behind Fernando Alonso in the points yet in a stunning upset neither of them claimed the title – Vettel grabbing it instead.
2011-2013: Red Bull
Relations between Vettel and Webber have hardly improved in the years since. Vettel was in crushing form in 2011 as Webber found the handling characteristics of the RB7 with its powerful exhaust-blown diffuser less to his liking than his team mate.
Webber enjoyed a better 2012 following the banning of the technology, winning twice and leading Vettel in the points at mid-season. But poor luck with unreliability and collisions later in the year held him back as Vettel scooped title number three.
The 2013 season had barely begun when hostilities between the two, fired by further skirmishes in the previous season, spilled out onto the track. In Malaysia Vettel disobeyed an instruction to stay behind Webber and passed him to win.
In the light of the increasingly fractious relationship between the pair, it remains to be seen if Webber will stick around for another season at the team with which he has enjoyed so much success.
Webber reached his 200th start in the same race as another driver: Fernando Alonso. See his career in pictures here:
F1 pictures
- 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix practice in pictures
- First pictures from the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend
- Pictures: 2024 F1 pre-season testing day three: Bahrain
- Pictures: 2024 F1 pre-season testing day two: Bahrain
- Pictures: Ferrari's new SF-24 uncovered as testing begins
Images © Ford.com, BMW ag, Williams/LAT, Red Bull/GEPA, Red Bull/Getty, F1 Fanatic, Andy Lees (In Focus With The World), Boris 1964


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Public Anthropology and Peace Corps
For many students, the drive to apply what they learn in the classroom in the world at large is undeniable. While the limitless internship opportunities in Washington present such opportunities, many students hunger to make an even larger impact. With its new international track public anthropology master's degree in partnership with the Peace Corps, the College's Department of Anthropology has answered this call.
"Our students consistently express their desire to use their skills to work directly with communities on the ground," says international track coordinator and anthropology professor William Leap. "The Peace Corps provides access to these types of opportunities many times in the form of development projects that are already underway. Peace Corps volunteers can provide the technical and organizational assistance to move these projects forward."
The program, designed to be completed over the course of three years including Peace Corps placement, provides students with key preparation to succeed while working at their site placements as well as the resources to use their experiences to make lasting change once they return.
In the first year, students complete core anthropology coursework designed to create a strong foundation in public anthropology methods and practices. Throughout the fall semester, students complete a Peace Corps application with the assistance of program coordinators Leap and Assistant Professor Adrienne Pine, as well as members of the program's Advisory Board.
The Advisory Board consists of graduates of the department's MA and PhD programs who have had Peace Corps experience, including Robert Minchon, currently a program manager at the National Institutes of Health Training Center who served in Lesotho from 1995 to 1997, and Bill Roberts, a professor of anthropology at St. Mary's College of Maryland who served in the Gambia from 1979 to 1981. John Charles of the AU Career Center, who specializes in helping AU students with Peace Corps applications, will also assist students in the program. According to Leap, participation in this advising and preparation will weigh heavily on the Peace Corps' admissions decision.
The spring before students leave for their placements, the department will help them pursue practical experience related to their placement within the metropolitan Washington area. For example, if a student will be working with schools during her placement, she may be given an opportunity to work as a teacher's aide in a D.C. school to build teaching skills.
"We not only want to give students practical skills for their placements," says Leap. "We want to help them build key portfolio skills that are going to help them be successful both in their placements and in their future work in the development field."
After serving in their Peace Corps placements for three semesters (earning six credits for which they are exempt from paying tuition) students return to AU for a final semester in which they prepare and submit a final report on their Peace Corps experience, thinking critically about what successes, failures, and needs they observed while in their placements.
"The goal with the final semester," says Leap, "is to help students to work to meet the needs they identify while in their placements. If, for example, a student is working in a school and observes that school financing is a major problem we can connect them with resources across the university, from the Kogod School of Business or School of Education, Teaching and Health for instance, to help them further explore this topic. This way, students don't just learn what problems exist, they learn how to solve them."
Students interested in the program need no prior experience in anthropology. According to Leap, more than half of all anthropology master's students have bachelor's degrees in other fields. "Anthropology trains students to be attentive to local conditions and to not assume that we know what a community needs," says Leap. "Anthropologists put people first, learn how to listen to what people need, and work to help communities design the solutions that will be best for them."


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Breast-Conserving Surgery using NaviKnife Technology: Pilot Study on Non-Palpable Tumors.
Canadian Surgery Forum 2016. Gauvin2016a.pdf (66.46 KB)
(2016). Catheter targeting under electromagnetic guidance in breast brachytherapy – a demonstration of concept.
30th International Congress & Exhibition on Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (CARS). Int J CARS(11), S60-62.
(2016). Dynamic management of segmented structures in 3D Slicer.
Imaging Network Ontario Symposium (ImNO 2016). Pinter_ImNO2016_Segmentations_v03.pdf (227.44 KB)
(2016). Effects of voxelization on dose volume histogram accuracy.
SPIE Medical Imaging. 97862O–97862O. sunderland2016a.pdf (437.4 KB)
(2016). Electromagnetic tracking for catheter insertion guidance for HDR breast brachytherapy: demonstration of concept in phantoms.
Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology (CARO) Annual Scientific Meeting. Radiother Oncol 120(Supplement 1), S73-S74.
(2016). Electromagnetic tracking for catheter insertion guidance for HDR breast brachytherapy: a phantom experiment.
American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 96(2, Supplement), E643.
(2016). Electromagnetically-guided catheter insertions in breast phantoms for brachytherapy.
14th Annual Imaging Network Ontario Symposium (ImNO).
(2016). Increasing the impact of medical image computing using community-based open-access hackathons: The NA-MIC and 3D Slicer experience.
Medical Image Analysis. 33, 176-180. Kapur2016.pdf (1011.66 KB)
(2016). Intraoperative user interface for navigated breast tumor surgery.
Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery, 30th International Congress. 11(Suppl. 1), S108-9. Ungi2016c.pdf (137.38 KB)
(2016). Investigation of permanent magnets in low-cost position tracking.
Proc. SPIE. 97862F-97862F-9.
(2016). Measurement of electromagnetic tracking error in a navigated breast surgery setup.
SPIE Medical Imaging 2016. 9786, Harish2016a.pdf (4.07 MB)
(2016). Monitoring electromagnetic tracking error in computer-navigated breast cancer surgery.
14th Annual Imaging Network Ontario Symposium (ImNO). Harish2016c.pdf (1.25 MB)
(2016). Open-source platforms for navigated image-guided interventions.
Medical Image Analysis. 33, 181-6. Ungi2016a.pdf (868.77 KB)
(2016). Real-time self-calibration of a handheld augmented reality overlay system.
14th Annual Imaging Network Ontario Symposium (ImNO). Baum2016b.pdf (679.99 KB)
(2016). Real-time self-calibration of a tracked augmented reality display.
SPIE Medical Imaging 2016. 9786, Baum2016a.pdf (1.85 MB)
(2016). Safety and Feasibility Study for Real-Time Electromagnetic Navigation in Breast-Conserving Surgery.
Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery, 30th International Congress. 11(Suppl. 1), S106-7. Gauvin2016a.pdf (492.77 KB)
(2016). Visual feedback mounted on surgical tool: proof of concept.
SPIE Medical Imaging 2016. 9786,
(2016). 3D-printed surface mould applicator for high-dose-rate brachytherapy.
SPIE Medical Imaging 2015. 9415, Schumacher2015-manuscript.pdf (739.76 KB) Schumacher2015-poster.pdf (1.7 MB)
(2015). Clinical Translation of Real Time Cautery Navigation for Breast Surgery.
The Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics. 19-20. Ungi2015c.pdf (364.42 KB)
(2015). Cross‐Validation of 3D Gamma Comparison Tools.
AAPM. 42(6), 3385-3385. Alexander2015_AAPM_Gamma.pdf (657.24 KB)
(2015). Current sensing for navigated electrosurgery .
13th Imaging Network of Ontario Symposium (ImNO 2015). 37. Carter2015b-slides.pptx (935.35 KB) Carter2015b-poster.pptx (841.73 KB) Carter2015b.pdf (148.88 KB)
(2015). Data Management Workflow And Architecture For Simulation-Based Medical Training.
29th International Congress and Exhibition of Computer Assisted Radiology Surgery. 10(Suppl 1), s78. AbouSeido2015.pdf (251.59 KB)
(2015). Hole filling with oriented sticks in ultrasound volume reconstruction.
J. Med. Imag.. 2, Vaughan2015_Manuscript.pdf (3.91 MB)
(2015). An Immersive Virtual Reality Environment for Diagnostic Imaging.
Int Conf Med Image Comput Comput Assist Interv. MICCAI 2015. King2015.pdf (498.49 KB)
(2015). Intraoperative visualization and assessment of electromagnetic tracking error.
SPIE Medical Imaging 2015. 9415, 94152H-94152H-6. Harish2015-manuscript.pdf (5.7 MB) Harish2015-poster.pdf (897.74 KB)


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We've seen how observable properties let Knockout.js automatically update HTML elements when underlying data changes, but this is only the beginning of their utility. Knockout.js also comes with two more ways of exposing ViewModel properties: computed observables and observable arrays. Together, these open up a whole new world of possibilities for data-driven user interfaces.
Computed observables let you create properties that are dynamically generated. This means you can combine several normal observables into a single property, and Knockout.js will still keep the view up-to-date whenever any of the underlying values change.
Observable arrays combine the power of Knockout.js' observables with native JavaScript arrays. Like native arrays, they contain lists of items that you can manipulate. But since they're observable, Knockout.js automatically updates any associated HTML elements whenever items are added or removed.
The ability to combine observables, along with the ability to work with lists of items, provides all the data structures you'll need in a ViewModel. This lesson introduces both topics with a simple shopping cart interface.
Computed Observables
First, we'll start with a simple computed observable. Underneath the firstName
and lastName
observables in PersonViewModel, create the fullName computed observable:
this.fullName = ko.computed(function() { return this.firstName() + " " + this.lastName(); }, this);
This defines an anonymous function that returns the person's full name whenever PersonViewModel.fullName
is accessed. Dynamically generating the full name from the existing components (firstName
and lastName) prevents us from storing redundant data, but that's only half the battle. We need to pass this function to ko.computed() to create a computed observable. This tells Knockout.js that it needs to update any HTML elements bound to the fullName property whenever either firstName or lastName change.
Let's make sure our computed observable works by binding the "John's Shopping Cart" line to fullName
instead of firstName:

's Shopping Cart

Now your page should read "John Smith's Shopping Cart." Next, let's make sure that Knockout.js keeps this HTML element in sync when we change one of the underlying properties. After binding an instance of PersonViewModel
, try changing its firstName property:
var vm = new PersonViewModel(); ko.applyBindings(vm); vm.firstName("Mary");
This should change the line to "Mary Smith's Shopping Cart." Again, remember that reading or setting observables should be done with function calls, not the assignment (=
) operator.
Computed observables provide many of the same benefits as Knockout.js' automatic synchronization of the view. Instead of having to keep track of which properties rely on other parts of the ViewModel, computed observables let you build your application around atomic properties and delegate dependency tracking to Knockout.js.
Observable Arrays
Observable arrays let Knockout.js track lists of items. We'll explore this by creating a shopping cart display page for our user. First, we need to create a custom object for representing products. At the top of our script, before defining PersonViewModel
, add the following object definition:
function Product(name, price) { this.name = ko.observable(name); this.price = ko.observable(price); }
This is just a simple data object to store a few properties. Note that it's possible to give multiple objects observable properties, and Knockout.js will manage all of the interdependencies on its own. In other words, it's possible to create relationships between multiple ViewModels in a single application.
Next, we're going to create a few instances of our new Product
class and add them to the user's virtual shopping cart. Inside of PersonViewModel
, define a new observable property called shoppingCart:
this.shoppingCart = ko.observableArray([ new Product("Beer", 10.99), new Product("Brats", 7.99), new Product("Buns", 1.49) ]);
This is a native JavaScript array containing three products wrapped in an observable array so Knockout.js can track when items are added and removed. But, before we start manipulating the objects, let's update our view so we can see the contents of the shoppingCart
property. Underneath the
 tag, add the following:

 Product	 Price

This is a typical HTML 5 table containing a column for product names and another for product prices. This example also introduces a new binding called foreach
. When Knockout.js encounters foreach: shoppingCart
, it loops through each item in the ViewModel's shoppingCart
property. Any markup inside of the loop is evaluated in the context of each item, so text: name actually refers to shoppingCart[i].name. The result is a table of items alongside their prices:
The details of the foreach
binding are outside the scope of this lesson. The next lesson provides an in-depth discussion of foreach, and it also introduces Knockout.js' other control-flow bindings. For now, let's get back to observable arrays.
Adding Items
The whole point of using observable arrays is to let Knockout.js synchronize the view whenever we add or remove items. For example, we can define a method on our ViewModel that adds a new item, like so:
this.addProduct = function() { this.shoppingCart.push(new Product("More Beer", 10.99)); };
Then, we can create a button to call the method so we can add items at run time and see Knockout.js keep the list up-to-date. Next to the checkout button in the view code, add the following:
<button data-bind='click: addProduct'>Add Beer</button>
When you click this button, the ViewModel's addProduct()
method is executed. And, since shoppingCart
is an observable array, Knockout.js inserts another
 element to display the new item. Letting Knockout.js keep track of list items like this is much less error-prone than trying to manually update the
 whenever we change the underlying array.
It's also worth pointing out that Knockout.js always makes the minimal amount of changes necessary to synchronize the user interface. Instead of regenerating the entire list every time an item is added or removed, Knockout.js tracks which parts of the DOM are affected and updates only those elements. This built-in optimization makes it possible to scale up your application to hundreds or even thousands of items without sacrificing responsiveness.
Deleting Items
Similarly, Knockout.js can also delete items from an observable array via the remove()
method. Inside of the PersonViewModel definition, add another method for removing items:
this.removeProduct = function(product) { this.shoppingCart.remove(product); };
Then, add a delete button for each item in the

 	 	 <button data-bind='click: $root.removeProduct'>Remove</button>

Because we're in the foreach
context, we had to use the $root
reference to access our ViewModel instead of the current item in the loop. If we tried to call removeProduct() without this reference, Knockout.js would have attempted to call the method on the Product class, which doesn't exist. All of the available binding contexts for foreach are covered in the next lesson.
The fact that we're in a foreach
loop also messes up the this
reference in removeProduct(), so clicking a Remove button will actually throw a TypeError. We can use a common JavaScript trick to resolve these kinds of scope issues. At the top of the PersonViewModel definition, assign this to a new variable called self:
function PersonViewModel() { var self = this; ...
Then, use self
instead of this
in the removeProduct() method:
this.removeProduct = function(product) { self.shoppingCart.remove(product); };
You should now be able to manipulate our observable array with the Add Beer and Remove buttons. Also note that Knockout.js automatically adds the current item in the loop as the first parameter to removeProduct()
Destroying Items
The remove()
method is useful for real-time manipulation of lists, but it can prove troublesome once you start trying to send data from the ViewModel to a server-side script.
For example, consider the task of saving the shopping cart to a database every time the user added or deleted an item. With remove()
, the item is removed immediately, so all you can do is send your server the new list in its entirety—it's impossible to determine which items where added or removed. You either have to save the entire list, or manually figure out the difference between the previous version stored in the database and the new one passed in from the AJAX request.
Neither of these options is particularly efficient, especially considering Knockout.js knows precisely which items were removed. To remedy this situation, observable arrays include a destroy()
method. Try changing PersonViewModel.removeProduct() to the following:
this.removeProduct = function(product) { self.shoppingCart.destroy(product); alert(self.shoppingCart().length); };
Now when you click the Remove button, Knockout.js won't remove the item from the underlying array. This is shown in the alert message, which should not decrease when you click "Remove." Instead of altering the list, the destroy()
method adds a _destroy
property to the product and sets it to true. You can display this property by adding another alert message:
The _destroy
property makes it possible to sort through an observable list and pull out only items that have been deleted. Then, you can send only those items to a server-side script to be deleted. This is a much more efficient way to manage lists when working with AJAX requests.
Note that the foreach
loop is aware of this convention, and still removes the associated
 element from the view, even though the item remains in the underlying array.
Other Array Methods
Internally, observable arrays are just like normal observable properties, except they are backed by a native JavaScript array instead of a string, number, or object. Like normal observables, you can access the underlying value by calling the observable array without any properties:
this.debugItems = function() { var message = ""; var nativeArray = this.shoppingCart(); for (var i=0; i<nativeArray.length; i++) { message += nativeArray[i].name + "\n"; } alert(message); };
Calling this method will loop through the native list's items, and it also provides access to the native JavaScript array methods like push()
, pop()
, shift(), sort(), etc.
However, Knockout.js defines its own versions of these methods on the observable array object. For example, earlier in this lesson, we used shoppingCart.push()
to add an item instead of shoppingCart().push()
. The former calls Knockout.js' version, and the latter calls push() on the native JavaScript array.
It's usually a much better idea to use Knockout.js' array methods instead of accessing the underlying array directly because it allows Knockout.js to automatically update any dependent view components. The complete list of observable array methods provided by Knockout.js follows. Most of these act exactly like their native JavaScript counterparts.
() -
() -
() -
() -
() -
() -
() -
() -
() -
() -
() -
In this lesson, we saw how computed observables can be used to combine normal observables into compound properties that Knockout.js can track. We also worked with observable arrays, which are a way for Knockout.js to synchronize lists of data in the ViewModel with HTML components.
Together, atomic, computed, and array observables provide all the underlying data types you'll ever need for a typical user interface. Computed observables and observable arrays make Knockout.js a great option for rapid prototyping. They let you put all of your complex functionality one place, and then let Knockout.js take care of the rest.
For example, it would be trivial to create a computed observable that calculates the total price of each item in the shoppingCart
list and displays it at the bottom of the page. Once you create that functionality, you can reuse it anywhere you need the total price (e.g., an AJAX request) just by accessing a ViewModel property.
The next lesson introduces control-flow bindings. The foreach
binding that we used in this lesson is probably the most common control-flow tool, but Knockout.js also includes a few more bindings for fine-grained control over our HTML view components.
This lesson represents a chapter from Knockout Succinctly, a free eBook from the team at Syncfusion.


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7 Days in L.A.
Welcome to 7 Days in L.A., home to the city's most interesting guided tours. We're not a tour operator, but a consortium of the region's best independent tour operators. Whether you're interested in architecture or true crime, film locations or graveyards, gay history or iconic L.A. literature, you'll find the perfect excursion on our community calendar, and all the information you need to book a tour. Why 7 Days in L.A? Because this city is too big and too complicated to understand without a native guide, and because you're smart enough to know that a one-size-fits-all experience is the wrong size for you. Consult our calendar, sign up for the newsletter, and let our passionate local historians show you the city that they love. Give us few hours, or your whole week, and we'll change the way you think about Los Angeles forever. [more inside]


text:
Tonight was Tripp's fundraiser put on by the PhiMu sorority of Nicholls State University. Anyone who went to eat at the Chili's in Houma, Laplace or Thibodaux and presented Tripp's flyer donated 10% of their total bill to his fund. Isn't that just amazing? I think there was a pretty good turn-out. Thank you so much to everyone who went to eat for Tripp tonight. You're meal will help pay for his doctor visits and supplies. Thank you to everyone who was associated with putting together this fundraiser and to everyone who helped spread the word. There were people that I do not even know who were e-mailing me for flyers and posting the event on facebook and even people sending checks for the fund! Your support is very MUCH appreciated. I just hope one day Tripp can see how many people love him and are praying for him! It's so touching.
So today we woke up and were going on with our regular routine and the UPS man knocks on the door. Well, it wouldn't be a normal day over here if the UPS man didn't stop at our house (I think he gets aggravated at all the boxes that come here and may or may not have hinted that before). We are always getting him some type of supplies for him... wound care supplies, suction catheters, g-tube feeding bags, etc... So I was totally expecting suction catheters because it was about that time... well I opened the box and it was a really cool TOY!! YAY! It's not everyday that a toy comes in the mail! And what's better than expecting suction catheters and getting a toy instead. It was from Diane Rabalais ( the nurse from North Oaks who helped deliver Tripp). She had a really nice card that said she read the blog and heard us singing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" and her daughter had a really neat toy that sang it. SO she bought it for Tripp. Once again, people just amaze me. Tripp LOVES it. It's the perfect height for him to sit on the ground and just bang the heck out of it. He sat on the floor with that toy today longer than he's EVER sat. BLESS YOU DIANE! He was actually preoccupied for a few minutes!! I had to lysol the toy after he finished because it had blood all over it from his little fingers from banging on it so hard! haha. Here he is with it... Thanks Diane :)
Tripp's skin is looking about the same... his face is looking better. Thank God. He is still rubbing his eyes a whole lot and still has blisters and some raw skin hanging from the corner of both eyes. And he has those scabs on his face that just don't want to heal. I don't know if it's the depth of the wound that makes some heal so fast and some NEVER heal. I have no clue. Or maybe it's just that some will never heal. The ones on his legs have looked exactly the same for months. They're pretty deep though... and he kicks his little legs like there's no tomorrow. But I pad his legs with about 4-5 layers of stuff to keep new ones from popping up. And it works, there hasn't been a lot of new ones... one here and there. But ugh... his fingers. I'm just at a loss. I am absolutely NOT wrapping each individual finger... not because it's hard on me, but because he LIVES to hold and play and use his fingers... that's pretty much all he can do. And I've wrapped the little sore that's been on his foot for months and it just won't heal either, so I'm thinking the fingers will maybe just come with time... A LOT of time.
Jonah's Auction is up and running!! All the proceeds from the auction are being donated directly to Debra to help find a cure for EB! Please, please go check it out. They have some really great stuff and it's for a great cause!! And it's to celebrate Baby Big Boy Jonah's 1ST BIRTHDAY!! HOW. Freaking. EXCITING? Really, go check it out... and BID!! It will tell you how to bid on the website!
OH I so totally forgot to tell you that my sister (Tripp's Nanny) is getting MARRIED!! IN MAY!!
Very soon, I know... but her fiance' lives in Minot, North Dakota, so a long engagement isn't really fun. Anyway, she will be 28 hours away :( I know. I will try not to focus on her leaving yet and only one the exciting wedding day (May 22!) I really don't think it's hit me, well I KNOW it hasn't hit me yet that she will be leaving and be so far away. Ok, so I'm really NOT going to think about it. Anyway, I have 3 months to shed some pounds... and tone up a bit. So I need a little motivation. Just not sure where I will get it. I've been eating better this past week mainly because there are no groceries in our house because we haven't been grocery shopping in ages except for things we need here and there. My mom ordered us an elliptical so we are going to start working out as soon as it's in. I mainly need to work out to get a little energy back and so my body won't feel so stiff all the time. Ok I'm starting to bore myself.. sorry.
It's WAY past my bedtime and Tripp finally just fell asleep watching Mickey Mouse. He LOVES his bed. Thank God. What 9 month old wouldn't love their bed when they're propped up on a boppy and several pillows with soft blankets surrounding him, watching Mickey Mouse on his portable DVD player and chewing on his favorite toy (a burp rag). Judge me if you want. But the child deserves to be rotten. And trust me, the DVD player only occupies him for a short time...
One more thing... I want to share some scriptures with you that Jen Burns shared with me that I thought are SO fitting. And there is nothing I love more than reading scriptures that suite our situation (It just makes it a little easier, ya know?) Thanks, Jen. You may have saw them on caringbridge, but I wanted to post them here, too.
Revel ation 2:12
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.
Psalm 37:18
The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.
Psalm 37:18
The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever.
2 Timothy 2:12
If we endure hardship, we will also reign with Him. (how cool is that!)
This is him waking up this morning... a hot mess as always!!
But he's always smiling!!


text:
CDC Statement for National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (Sept. 27)
Media Statement
For immediate release: September 25, 2012
Contact: National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
404-639-8895, email@example.com
The fifth annual National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Sept. 27, 2012, is a time for us to reflect on the heavy toll that HIV takes on gay and bisexual men across the country and to recommit to fighting the disease. Men who have sex with men (MSM) represent 2 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for more than half of both new HIV infections each year and Americans living with HIV. Since the beginning of the epidemic, nearly 350,000 gay and bisexual men with AIDS have died, and more than 8,000 still die each year.
Below are quotes for attribution to Kevin Fenton, MD, Director, CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention:
On National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we honor the remarkable history of gay men's leadership in the fight against the HIV epidemic. Three decades ago, extraordinary community and public health prevention efforts led to dramatic declines in new HIV infections among men who have sex with men. Yet infection rates are now increasing among young gay and bisexual men, particularly men of color. We must not allow another generation to be devastated by this disease. Together we can, and must, revitalize the passion and dedication that helped turn back the HIV epidemic among gay men during its darkest days.
Research and surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remind us that gay and bisexual men remain at the epicenter of the U.S. HIV epidemic. HIV prevention, education and testing for men who have sex with men remain top CDC priorities. As part of CDC's High Impact Prevention approach to fighting HIV, we are working to ensure resources are directed to the activities that will have the greatest impact in reducing the toll among gay and bisexual men, and other populations at highest risk.
One of the most important things every gay and bisexual man can do to stop the spread of HIV is to get tested for the disease at least once a year. If you test negative, you'll have peace of mind and can redouble your efforts to stay safe. And if you test positive, you can get the medical care and support that you need to keep healthy and protect others from infection. It's a simple, quick way to reduce the toll of HIV, and can ultimately help us to turn the tide in the fight against HIV and AIDS in America.


text:
India: All four men found guilty in Delhi gang-rape trial
Four men have been convicted for their roles in the gang-rape and murder of a young woman in a moving bus in Delhi last year.
Judge Yogesh Khanna delivered the verdict on Tuesday morning shortly after noon local time at the district court of Saket in south Delhi.
"I convict all of the accused. They have been found guilty of gang rape, unnatural offences, destruction of evidence … and for committing the murder of the helpless victim," Khanna said.
The bus cleaner Akshay Kumar Singh, gym instructor Vinay Sharma, fruit-seller Pawan Gupta and unemployed Mukesh Singh will be sentenced on Wednesday and are likely to face death by hanging, though life imprisonment is a possibility. Their lawyers said they would appeal.
With tears in her eyes and wearing a pink sari, the mother of the 23-year-old victim – who cannot be identified under Indian law – sat just a few feet from the four men who stood against a wall in the court as Khanna read the verdict.
Outside the courthouse, where dozens of protesters had gathered, a chant began quickly after the verdict: "Hang them! Hang them! Hang them!"
The trial of the men, aged between 19 and 34, started in January. One defendant, a bus driver, hanged himself in prison in March. The oldest of the six men accused of the attack on the physiotherapy student, he was alleged by police to have been the ringleader. The youngest among the alleged attackers, who was 17 at the time of the assault, was tried separately and was last month sentenced to three years in a juvenile reform home – the maximum possible punishment under Indian law.
The incident, which took place on a Sunday night in Delhi in December 2012, provoked outrage in India with protests across the country. It also led to an unprecedented national discussion about sexual violence and calls for widespread changes in cultural attitudes and policing, and legal reform. The international image of the country was damaged, with numbers of female tourists dropping significantly.
The victim's father, Badrinath Singh, told the Guardian he wanted the case to set an example to other women in India, where there has been a wave of sexual violence in recent years.
"I want other girls and women to know how brave my daughter was so her sacrifice does not go ashamed," Singh, 48, said shortly before the verdict.
Since the attack laws have been tightened and pledges made to improve the investigation and processing of sexual violence cases.
Vrinda Grover, a well-known activist, said the challenge was to make any changes "institutional".
"There is certainly much higher awareness now … but the Indian system has huge inertia," she said.
Much of the trial was held behind closed doors, with media excluded for many months. The men arrived at the courtroom on Tuesday morning wearing hoods to avoid photographers.
The mother of the victim, who suffered severe internal injuries when repeatedly violated with an iron bar, had called for all those guilty to be hanged, whatever their age.
"It has to be the death penalty," she told reporters earlier this week.
Singh, the victim's father, told the Guardian earlier this year that the family would push for a harsher sentence by any means possible in India and internationally.
All the men denied charges of rape, murder and destroying evidence. Two said they had been to listen to a music concert in a park on the night of the attack. One said he was driving the bus in which the assault took place and did not take therefore directly take part in the assault. A fourth, a 26-year-old drifter, said he had left Delhi for his village.
Police have said the juvenile convicted last month was the most violent of the attackers of the girl.
The prosecution case relied on testimony from 85 witnesses, a statement given by the victim before she died, DNA samples, dental records from bite marks on the victim's body that matched the teeth of some of the men and the evidence of her male friend, who was also badly beaten in the attack.
The victim's friend described how the couple were attacked after boarding the bus on the way home from an evening movie at an upscale shopping mall. The attackers beat the man and raped the woman, police and doctors told the court.
The victims were eventually dumped on a roadside layby on the outskirts of Delhi, and the woman died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital. Her ashes were later scattered in the Ganges river, near her ancestral village in rural India.
The men were also found guilty of robbing another man earlier in the evening of the incident.
Police described how the six had set out from the Singh brothers' home in a bus on a "joy ride". They then tricked the victim and her friend into boarding the bus and assaulted them shortly afterwards.
There has been widespread criticism of the fast-track court set up specifically to ensure rapid justice in the case, which is one of the most high-profile in India for many years.
The trial of the adult defendants started in January. The victim's father has said the idea of a fast-track court was a farce.
"This case should have wound up within a month after it started … We have waited so long. We don't want it to be for nothing," he said.
Gang-rapes, acid attacks and other acts of violence against women continue to be reported every day across India. In one recent incident a photojournalist was raped repeatedly by a group of men in a disused building in the commercial capital, Mumbai. The men have since been arrested. The victim of the attack was widely praised for her courage in complaining to police and identifying her attackers.
Rape victims in India often prefer to remain silent rather than risk social ostracism, and sexual harassment remains a daily reality for Indian women.
"Every day I take trains, buses and rickshaws and every day I get harassed one way or another. Last week it was a boy of only nine years old. We have to stand up to them. No one will take the first step unless you take it yourself," said Shurbhi Sharma, a 19-year-old student in Mumbai.
In the Delhi case, defence lawyers said police "tortured" and beat their clients into making confessions. Such abuse is systemic in India.
"He was crying. He said: 'Mum, mum, do something. Get me out of here. I never did anything wrong. I don't understand what is happening to me,'" Champa Sharma, mother of the defendant Vinay Sharma, said this weekend.
It is hoped fast-track courts such as the one where this trial was held will help improve a poor conviction rate. Many families of victims pressure their relatives who have been assaulted not to press charges, police often refuse to file cases for those who do, witnesses are systematically intimidated and courts rarely deliver swift justice in the few cases that are filed. Indian courts had a backlog of 33m cases as of 2011.


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Joe Biden's Gaffes Go International, But All Three Networks Skip
Vice President Joe Biden unleashed another gaffe on Tuesday while talking to female employees at an internet company in Japan. According to the Examiner, Biden was "scheduled to address the company's female employees" and "discuss the economic impact of women in the corporate world." Instead, while talking to the women, he blurted, "Do your husbands like you working full time?"
ABC's Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and NBC's Today all ignored the remark. Imagine if a conservative Republican like Rick Santorum had made such a similar comment? The politically correct media would likely trot out the "war on women" theme. Instead, GMA's Josh Elliott strictly focused on the VP's agenda in another Asian country: "Vice President Biden is in Beijing, hoping to ease growing tensions with China...But today, Biden visited with Chinese students at the U.S. embassy there, urging them to challenge their government and not accept the status quo." [MP3 audio here.]
On Today, Al Roker avoided the gaffe, but joked that Biden is "getting ready to come co-host the third hour of the Today show."
This is a running theme with NBC. On November 7, after yet another Biden gaffe, Roker begged, "Mr. Vice President, once again, we beseech you, please come to the third hour, Today's Take, and co-host our show....right here, Vice President Biden, we want you here."
CBS This Morning mentioned the China part of the trip, but not the comments in Japan.
Even the liberal Politico worried about the Vice President causing problems. Writer Josh Gerstein fretted, "To some in the U.S., Biden might seem like an unlikely choice for delicate diplomacy. On the American political scene, he's known for blunt-spokenness, and occasional public gaffes that have sometimes landed him in hot water with Obama."
A brief transcript of the GMA segment is below:
ELLIOTT: And Vice President Biden is in Beijing, hoping to ease growing tensions with China. He'll be meeting with China's president. But today, Biden visited with Chinese students at the U.S. embassy there, urging them to challenge their government and not accept the status quo.
— Scott Whitlock is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Scott Whitlock on Twitter.


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Did the Nobel Prize Committee choose this year's economics laureates to influence the growing debate in Boston about how to assign students to public schools? I know we're the hub of the universe and all that, but the Scandinavians can't possibly be so focused on our issues. Still, the awards to economists Lloyd Shapley and Alvin Roth shouldn't just shine a spotlight on their work on assignment mechanisms. It should also make us pause before embracing changes that restrict the school choices of Boston's parents — especially those with less means.
Boston has struggled for decades to find an equitable way to assign students to schools. The current system for elementary- and middle-school children splits the city up into three zones. Children entering the system generate a list of their preferred schools, which can be within their zone, or within a mile of their home, or one of the city's few "city-wide" schools. High school students can apply anywhere. Students with siblings in a school or who live within walking distance of a school have a better chance of getting in. But beyond those factors, a lottery determines which child goes where.
Motivated in part by concerns about the high cost of transporting students around, Boston Public Schools have put five potential reforms on the table. One proposal eschews lotteries and choice altogether and simply assigns students to the nearest possible school. The other proposals would keep the basic outline of the current system, but increase the number of zones from three to six, nine, 11, or 23.
Of course, a lot of thinking went into the current rules, and even subtle tweaks can change how well the results reflect the city's values.
The current system owes much to Roth, a professor at UCLA, and Shapley, a Harvard colleague of mine (who, sadly, is leaving for Stanford). Most of the time, economists argue for allocating things based on prices; cars and cabbages go to the buyers willing to pay most, who presumably value the goods most highly. But in some cases, ethical considerations preclude that; Roth worked to develop kidney exchanges to address the fact that we don't like auctioning off life-saving organs. In other situations, both the people seeking an item and the people providing it have certain preferences that need to be honored. Prospective spouses, except perhaps for Scarlett O'Hara, don't just sell themselves to the highest bidder. They want to find the right match. In a similar spirit, Boston declines to sell admissions to its prestigious Boston Latin School, both to ensure opportunity and to maintain the high quality of the student body.
Without prices, we need an alternative system to make matches that reflect individual preferences. Shapley proposed such an approach: Suitors propose to their ideal mate. Those mates tentatively select their favorite suitor, and the rejected suitors try again. Rejected suitors can present themselves either to an unmatched person, or to a mate who already has a prospective spouse, who then decides whether to dump him or her for the new beau. The process continues until all the suitors have the best mate that they can get. It sounds strange to say, but Shapley's algorithm ultimately provided the basis for Boston's current assignment system.
In practice, this complex system isn't perfect, but it is much better than a simpler one that makes the first choices permanent. When your first pick determines your outcome, there is a huge incentive to initially choose a less-popular, less-attractive option. Boston used to have such a system. When Roth helped redesign it in 2005, the new system encouraged families to try for the schools they really want.
Four of the new proposals don't monkey with this core algorithm, but they do restrict parental choice by making zones smaller. This will benefit parents in zones with good schools, and hurt parents in the often poorer districts with weaker schools. Smaller zones will reduce kids' travel distances and the school system's transit costs, but we can instead tinker with the algorithm to nudge towards this outcome without radically restricting parental choice.
A good school assignment system seeks to merge the great benefit of the free market — providing abundant choices — with more social equity. Shrinking the school zones provides less choice and less equity, which seems far from what the city needs, and far from the spirit of the pioneering work of Shapley and Roth.
Edward L. Glaeser, an economist at Harvard, is the director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.


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There are 10 machines available to students. They run the identical RHEL 6.1 operating system as the Andrew cluster machines. ICS students and teaching staff can login to them using their Andrew credentials. For example, if your Andrew ID is bovik, then you can login to a random shark machine:
unix> ssh email@example.com
or a specific machine:
unix> ssh email@example.com
Greatwhite.ics.cs.cmu.edu is the Autolab server. Teaching staff can login to it using their Andrew credentials. There are also 10 servers that Autolab uses to autograde student handins. Each autograding job is performed on a RHEL 6.1 virtual machine managed by the Apache Tashi system, which was developed by Intel Labs Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Mellon Parallel Data Lab.


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In this episode, I play a song from Valley Lodge; I discuss why I am done with Flattr; I am the dad that sleeps in the tent; I talk about season passes and always having towels; I talk about choices and decision fatigue and why I play roulette; I close on discussing the Black Widow controversy around Age of Ultron and how that is exactly like an ebook controversy from 15 years ago; I urge everyone to take a few minutes before acting on any outrage and from there we call it a day.
Here is the direct MP3 download for the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast, May 31, 2015.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Support this show on Patreon
- Valley Lodge website
- Barricade by Valley Lodge on Amazon
- Dave Hill's website
- Flattr
- Wild Water and Wheels in Myrtle Beach
- Article on decision fatigue
- Quimbys in Chicago
- Auphonic podcast production tool is so good!
- Dog Days of Podcasting
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You can subscribe to this podcast feed via RSS. To sponsor the show, contact BackBeat Media. Don't forget, you can fly your EGC flag by buying the stuff package. This show as a whole is Creative Commons licensed Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. Bandwidth for this episode is provided by Cachefly.
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Access to SQL Server resources is controlled by two separate mechanisms. The first one is authentication, which determines the identity of a user attempting to connect, based on a verifiable identifier. The second one is authorization, which establishes the level of privileges granted to a login associated with the logged on user. In this article, we will focus on the authentication (authorization will be covered later in the series).
In the case of SQL Server, authentication is handled by comparing credentials provided by a connecting user with set of entries stored in the sysxlogin table of the SQL server master database (to get familiar with its content, you might want to use sysloging view, presenting data in a more friendly format). The way these credentials are provided depends on the authentication mode, which can be set to one of the following:
- SQL Server authentication– in this case, SQL Server requires that a user specifies a name and password at the time when connection is attempted. The login name and one-way hash of the password need to match one of entries in the sysxlogins table for the login attempt to be successful.
- Windows authentication – in this case, SQL Server does not prompt a user for credentials, but instead it uses an access token assigned at the time the user logged on using a Windows account. This can be a token generated by the Windows operating system on which SQL Server was installed (in case of a local user account) or by a Windows NT 4.0 or Active Directory domain, (if a user domain account is used). The token contains a security identifier (SID) which uniquely identifies the user, as well as SIDs of local (or domain) groups that the user is a member of. SQL compares all of the SIDs stored in the token against entries in the sysxlogin table and, depending on the outcome, it grants or denies login privileges. Presence of a matching entry is not sufficient though for logon to be allowed, since with Windows authentication, it is possible to not only grant login privileges to a specific SID but also deny them (denying rights will always take precedence over granting them). This means that you can, for example, grant login privileges to a Windows group, but still deny access to SQL server to some of its members.
SQL Server creates two default logins (entries in the sysxlogin table) at the installation time, granted the highest possible level of administrative privileges. The first one is the sa login, allowing access using SQL Server authentication, the second is the BUILTINAdministrators, representing SID of the local Administrators Windows group on the SQL Server computer and allowing every member of this group to access the server via Windows authentication. As part of the installation procedure, you are prompted to assign a password to the sa account. Make sure to choose a complex one (Spida worm took advantage of SQL Servers where sa was assigned a blank password). SQL Server logins passwords can be up to 128 characters long and contain any type of ASCII characters, however, you should note that password strength is affected by case sensitivity settings. Case insensitive installations store hashes of passwords in sysxlogins table after converting all characters to upper case first, which makes them more vulnerable to brute force attacks and defeats the purpose of creating mixed case passwords. As an additional security measure, you might consider modifying default Windows authentication configuration by removing BUILTINAdministrators login, replacing it with another group or user account, and assigning to it Sysadmin fixed server role. This is recommended in environments where Windows server and SQL server administration is handled by separate teams. For more information on this procedure, including possible side effects and cluster specific caveats, refer to the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 263712.
At the installation time, you also need to decide on the authentication mode, although you can change it afterwards from the Security tab of the SQL Server Properties dialog box of the SQL Enterprise Manager console (the change requires that SQL Server service be restarted). Two available options are "SQL Server and Windows" and "Windows only," which means that you cannot disable Windows authentication, regardless of your choice. In either case, you can create new logins from the Logins node in Security folder of SQL Server Enterprise Manager or with system stored procedures (sp_addlogin for standard SQL logins and sp_grantlogin for Windows-based logins). When creating a new login, in the New Login dialog box, you can either select an existing user or group account from any available Windows domain or local Windows account store on the SQL Server computer (subject to Windows authentication), or type in a new name and password (subject to SQL Server Authentication). As mentioned before, when selecting accounts for Windows authentication, you can not only grant, but also explicitly deny access. In the same dialog box, you can assign logins to fixed server roles and set individual database access (using "Server Roles" and "Database Access" tabs, respectively). We will describe these configuration options when discussing authorization later in this series.
Windows authentication is inherently more secure than SQL Server authentication (and therefore recommended by Microsoft). Windows credentials are delivered to SQL Server without passing the actual password, while SQL authentication sends the login name and password in unencrypted format, using a fairly simple obfuscation algorithm, involving conversion to Unicode, bit swapping, and a couple of XOR operations with a constant value (an algorithm reversing the obfuscation algorithm, which produces original password can be downloaded from http://www.sqlsecurity.com/Portals/57ad7180-c5e7-49f5-b282-c6475cdb7ee7/decrypt_ODBC_sql.txt). This means that anyone who can capture network traffic carrying client authentication information can easily retrieve it. If you are forced to resort to using SQL Authentication (when your clients are running legacy operating systems such as Windows 98 or Me, or are not part of the same or trusted domain), to protect passwords from being easily captured and exposed, you should always encrypt communication between SQL server and its clients with the built-in feature of Multiprotocol Net Library or by implementing SSL (for details, refer to the first article of this series).
Windows domain environment provides a number of additional advantages over SQL Server 2000 authentication mechanism. For both local and domain Windows accounts, you can implement account policies, enforcing password complexity, maximum and minimum age, history, as well as lockout settings. This mitigates the effectiveness of brute force attacks. Note, however, that the highest level of security is provided by Kerberos authentication, which requires that login accounts reside in a Windows 2000 or 2003 native mode Active Directory domain and that client computers run Windows 2000 or later. NTLM authentication protocol used in legacy operating systems is inherently less secure and can be exploited using a number of popular hacking utilities (such as L0phtcrack – currently available as LC4). If you cannot switch to Kerberos, you should implement NTLM v2 (much more resilient than its predecessor), following instructions in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 239869.
Another benefit of operating in the native Active Directory environment is the ability to use delegation. In order to understand its functionality, you need to first get familiar with another, closely related feature called impersonation, much more prevalent in Windows operating systems. Its primary purpose is to allow system processes and applications to run tasks on behalf of a user. Impersonation is employed whenever a user starts a new process or application, so their tasks execute in the user's security context and their security boundaries reflect the user's privileges. This way, when a user launches a Command Prompt or Windows Explorer, capabilities of each program are limited by what the user account is allowed to do. However, impersonation has its limitations. While it works fine for processes operating on the same system on which a user is logged on, remote processes (processes created on systems remote to the user) can take advantage of impersonation only when accessing their local resources (resources residing on the same remote computer). In other words, if a user X logged on to a computer A launches a process impersonating this user on a computer B, than this process is not capable to access resources on a computer C in the security context of the same user (i.e. user X).
In the context of SQL Server operations, this creates a problem with linked servers (for more information on linked servers, refer to the Books Online) where local and linked servers are set up with Windows Authentication mode. Ideally, in the scenario where all SQL Servers authenticate against the same Active Directory domain (or two Active Directory domains linked by trust relationships) and a user logged on to the first server wants to run a distributed query against a linked server, the same user's credentials should be used to connect to it. Unfortunately, creating such configuration is not possible with impersonation. In order to accomplish this goal, you need to resort to delegation.
Several important conditions need to be satisfied in order for delegation to work properly. First of all, since delegation is the function of Kerberos authentication protocol, your server and user accounts need to reside in a native mode Active Directory domain or trusted domains (Windows 2000 or 2003). User accounts that will be connecting to linked servers need to be trusted for delegation (this is enabled from the Account tab of the user's account Properties dialog box in the Active Directory Users and Computers console). Accounts of SQL servers involved in distributed queries must be trusted for delegation (this is done by checking the "Trust computer for delegation" checkbox on the General tab of each computer's account Properties dialog box in the Active Directory Users and Computers console). You also need to ensure that there exists a Service Principal Name (SPN) associated with each SQL Server instance (with a unique port for each instance, if multiple instances are installed on the same computer). If the SQL Server service runs in the security context of the Local System account, then a temporary SPN is created every time the service starts, so no additional configuration is needed. However, if the service uses a local or domain user account, you need to create one with the Windows 2000 Resource Kit utility SETSPN.EXE (downloadable from the Microsoft Web site) and execute if from the Command Prompt using the following syntax:
SETSPN -A MSSQLSvc/SQLServerName:SQLPort SQLServiceAccount
The command listed above generates a new SPN for the SQL server SQLServerName (this has to be in the form of the fully qualified domain name) listening on the TCP port SQLPort and operating in the security context of the SQLServiceAccount. In addition, you need to ensure that servers communicate using TCP/IP Net Library, since this is the only one which supports Kerberos based authentication.
This concludes our coverage of authentication related topics. In our next article, we will look closer into configuration of SQL Server service accounts and their impact on server security.


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Not only were the first chocoholics tinkering with cacao around 1100 B.C.—500 years earlier than previously thought—but they might have been doing so to get a tipsy buzz. A recent chemical analysis of 3,000-year-old pottery shards in northern Honduras turned up traces of theobromine (its name means "food of the gods"), a chemical that is found in cacao. The discovery is the oldest evidence of cacao manipulation. The analyzed vessel had a narrow spout, and the researchers speculate that the locals were imbibing a winelike drink made by fermenting the pulp that surrounds the seeds of the cacao plant. In contrast, the nonalcoholic concoction favored by Aztecs some 2,000 years later was prepared in wide-lipped jugs, and the liquid was poured back and forth to create froth.
Beer enthusiasts can look forward to a loose re-creation of the ancient brew sometime this year. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware is producing a drink based on the original recipe, with the help of biomolecular archaeologist Patrick McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, who aided in the Honduran study. "We tweaked the recipe, adding hops for the modern palate," says Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head founder and president, "but I still think of it as a liquid time capsule."
Image courtesy of Otto Steinnger


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Portimão What to discover and how to enjoy your visit
The Municipality of Portimão is divided into the following parishes: Alvor; Mexilhoeira Grande; Portimão
Municipal Holiday: 11th December
Inhabitantes: around 55,600
Area: 182 km²
After Faro, Portimão is the most important commercial and residential centre in the Algarve. The original settlement is believed to date from Neolithic times, from the evidence of remains of a necropolis discovered in nearby Alcalar, dating from that era. Monuments of interest to visit are the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Our Lady of the Conception) and the Jesuit College.
One entry into the Portimão is by crossing the River Arade, into the principal centre for sport fishing and boat trips in the Algarve. The itineraries for cruises include the entire coast from east to west, for visitors to get to know the spectacular cliffs, caves and grottos from the sea.
We highlight Praia da Rocha from amongst the excellent local beaches, as its national and international fame proclaim it as one of, if not the best, beach of the region.
On Portimão's dockside can be found the freshest fish, principally the traditional sardine, by reputation "the best" in the Algarve. Restaurants on the River Arade quayside await fans of grilled sardines, with hot charcoal at the ready, so customers only wait a few minutes for their delicious fish. One event, which attracts many lovers of good traditional Algarvean food, is the Festival de Gastronomia, held in May. In the same month the River Arade is the stage for the Portuguese Formula One Powerboat Grand Prix.
The Alvor river estuary, between Portimão and Lagos, is a protected area and an excellent place for observing birds, such as the stilt, cormorant, European stork and many others. From this estuary come various types of clams and razor shells, along with other seafood which can be savoured in the old fishing hamlet of Alvor.
An area much appreciated by golfers, Portimão has Penina, Palmares and Alto Golf, three golf courses set in magnificent landscapes.
Since 2009, the modern circuit at Autódromo Internacional do Algarve hosts many important motorsports events like FIA GT, LeMans series, WTTC, Superbikes, etc.
Move your mouse over the aerial view of the Algarve and click on the chosen destination.


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- Home
- Departments
- Clarksville Transit System
Clarksville Transit System
The mission of the Clarksville Transit System is to plan, implement, maintain and manage a public transportation system that allows for maximum mobility for the community with an emphasis on safety, quality and efficiency.
All buses leave the Transit Center, located at 200 Legion Street, at approximately the same time and travel to the outer reaches of the city. The buses then return to the Transit Center at approximately the same time, enabling passengers to transfer from one route to another route to reach their final destination. Additionally, there are transfer points along each route for quicker transport.
By using the route maps, you can identify which route serves your needs.
Demand Response AREAS
If you need to travel into areas which are serviced by demand response buses, please call the information phone number one hour in advance or advise the bus operator you need this service. To find out if you live in a demand response area, please call 931-553-2470.
Please be patient between the hours of 2 to 7 p.m. as traffic congestion may cause bus delays.
Advertising with Clarksville Transit
Are you interested in advertising with Clarksville Transit System (CTS)? Our buses are a great advertising tool! CTS buses cover the majority of the City of Clarksville and we rotate our buses daily. This guarantees city-wide coverage of your business ad. Please contact Veronica Williams.
The Lift
The lift is a service for qualified disabled and elderly passengers. To qualify for this service you must complete an application and return it to the Transit Office. If under 70 years of age and not residing in an assisted living facility, you must call to schedule an appointment for an interview. After being approved by CTS, passengers must call the day before your trip by phone at 931-553-2470 before 4:30 p.m. to reserve your appointment. The cost for this service is $2.50 per ride.
For any questions regarding this service please call 931-553-2470. To access the Telecommunications device for the hearing impaired (TDD) please call 931-645-0160.
CTS Reasonable Modification Policy
CTS is committed to providing safe, reliable, courteous, accessible and user-friendly services to its customers. To ensure equality and fairness, CTS is committed to making reasonable modifications to its policies, practices and procedures to avoid discrimination and ensure programs and services are accessible to individuals with disabilities. Requests for modifications can be made by calling 931-553-2470, 931-553-2429 or emailing Transit.
ParaTransit Application
Please download the Paratransit Application (PDF). This application must be printed out and manually completed. It cannot be filled out online.
Upon completion of the application you must call the CTS paratransit office to set up an interview to review your application with the Paratransit Supervisor. Please do not mail the application. Bring your application with you on the day of your interview. Please ensure that the application is 100% complete. Missing or incomplete information could result in a decision being delayed. Paratransit service will be provided to and from the interview at no charge if needed. To schedule your appointment, call (931)553-2470.
Paratransit interviews will be waived if the individual is over the age of 70 or resides in a nursing/assisted living home. In these instances the individual should mail the application to:
Clarksville Transit System
Attn: Mrs. rhiannon griffey
430 Boillin Lane
Clarksville, TN 37040.
The Clarksville Transit System is excited to announce that riders of "The Lift" service can now book the appointments online. By clicking the link below, passengers can make an account and schedule the appointments. Same-day appointments will not be available for request.
Once the request has been submitted, passengers will receive an email back stating whether the request was accepted, or rejected.
The new scheduling tool also enables passengers to receive a call from CTS, the day before their trip, to both confirm the trip, and inform the passenger of the approximate time for pick up.
To leave a comment or file a complaint please submit the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Complaint Form (PDF). This form can be mailed to:
430 Boillin Lane
Clarksville, TN 37040
Phone: 931-553-2470
Fax: 931-553-2401
contact us
admin. address
430 Boillin Lane Clarksville, TN 37040
transit center
200 Legion Street Clarksville, TN. 37040
Phone: 931.553.2429
Fax: 931.553.2401
Phone: 931.553.2470
TDD Phone: 931.645.0160
Transit Center Hours
Monday - Friday 5:30am to 8pm
Saturday 6:30am-8pm
route hours
Monday - Friday 4:40am-9pm
Saturday 6:40am to 9pm
Michael Ringgenberg
Director of Transportation
Veronica Williams
Operations Supervisor (Fixed Route)
Rhiannon Griffey
Operations Supervisor (Demand Response)
Chris Yarbrough
Maintenance Director
Lori Wallis
Director of Accounting
Patricia Nesbitt
Business Analyst
Rochelle Fendley
Administrative Support Specialist


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Yesterday, as Barack Obama called for a bipartisan immigration bill in Las Vegas and Sen. Marco Rubio called for one on Rush Limbaugh's program, the chances for passage look surprisingly good.
But in some quarters -- mostly from the right, but also from liberals like blogger Mickey Kaus -- comes a complaint that deserves to be addressed.
We tried this once already, they say, in the 1986 immigration act. We were told that in return for legalization of illegal immigrants we would get tough border control and strict enforcement against employers who hired illegals.
We got the amnesty, these folks say, but we didn't get effective border control or workplace enforcement. We got instead a huge flow of illegals, who number 11 million now.
Why should anything be different this time? It's a reasonable question, and I think there are reasonable answers. And let's not charge anyone with racism here. After all, illegal immigrants have, by definition, done something illegal. And legalization involves some element of forgiveness.
The argument for granting legal status is that we as a nation have been complicit in tolerating a situation in which it's easy and profitable to violate the law. The price of changing that is granting legal status to otherwise unobjectionable illegals, since we can't deport 11 million people.
So what are the reasons to think such legislation would produce different results from those of the 1986 law?
Border enforcement. It's clear that we've been doing better and can do better still. Fences at some portions of the border have stopped illegal crossings, and we have unmanned aerial vehicles unavailable 25 years ago.
The eight senators' framework called for an "entry-exit system that tracks whether all persons entering the United States on temporary visas via airports and seaports have left the country as required by law."
That suggests something feasible now that wasn't back then: an identity card linked to a database with biometric identification. India is now creating such a system for its 1.2 billion people. Why can't we do that for many fewer immigrants and visa holders?
High-skill immigration. The 1986 law left intact a system with more slots for collateral relatives like siblings than for high-skill graduates. Today, there's a big demand for the latter.
The senators' framework calls for green cards for those with U.S. advanced science, math and tech degrees. Why keep these people out? Why tie them to one employer?
Employment verification. The 1986 law didn't prevent illegals from getting fake identification. Americans on both left and right hated the idea of anything like a national identity card.
Americans today feel differently. Most of us seem content to carry cellphones that enable others to track our whereabouts at any time.
And we have the E-Verify system for employers to check the legal status of job applicants. It's working well after initial glitches; and in states with high E-Verify usage, like Arizona, illegal numbers have declined.
It could be even more effective to require identity cards with biometric links. Making it hard for illegals to get jobs would hugely reduce the incentive for illegal immigration.
Source of illegal immigrants. Nearly 60 percent of illegal immigrants come from Mexico, with which we share a 2,000-mile border. But net migration from Mexico appears to have been zero since the housing bubble burst in 2007.
We don't know whether it will resume again. But we do know (as we didn't in the decade after our free trade agreement) that Mexico's economy can grow faster than ours, as it is now.
Mexico is becoming a majority middle-class country, which reduces incentives to emigrate. I predict we'll never again see Mexican immigration of the magnitude we saw between 1982 and 2007.
If that's right, it means we won't see a wave of illegals as we saw after the 1986 law.
There were potentially significant differences between what Obama and Rubio said yesterday.
Obama wants a faster path to citizenship for illegals. Rubio insists that legalization only be triggered when enforcement is strengthened.
Putting together a comprehensive bill requires trade-offs and compromises. Obama's 2007 Senate votes for what John McCain and Edward Kennedy called killer amendments helped defeat an immigration bill when the political stars seemed more in alignment than they do today.
Obama now could demand provisions Republicans won't accept and blame them for killing reform. It depends on whether he wants a political issue or a law.